Paper or Ice? Maybe We Got it Right in Kindergarten.

Posted on February 12, 2014 by artsifrtsy

I grew up in the desert. I saw snow in a measurable amount about once a decade. Even so, making paper snowflakes was one of my favorite projects in school. Over the years I made them out of various types of paper – tissue paper, construction paper, my report card…you get the idea. I still love to make them – here’s one I made with my power bill that just arrived…

Seems pretty appropriate, given the winter we have had so far. I think I will only pay the parts I can read...

Seems pretty appropriate, given the winter we have had so far. I think I will only pay the portions I can read.

I still love to make snowflakes and have taught dozens of children how to get the open and airy feel over the years. What never occurred to me was the idea that my desert-born imaginings of snowflakes might not be so far off the mark.

A couple of weeks ago we were pummeled with about a foot of show on a Sunday afternoon. People were stranded getting home from church, the grocery store was out of milk and bread, and I had been busy shooting cardinals and other birds as they flocked to the feeders.

I stepped outside and noticed that the snow was really fluffy and wondered what it would look like shot through my macro lens. I knew I needed contrast so I looked for the smoothest flat black objects I could find to capture the flakes. I tried a microfiber cloth, a crock pot, a frying pan – ultimately I ended up turning a black t-shirt inside out. In the weather at the angles I was trying to focus at, a tripod was out of the question, so all of these images are handheld shots. Click through for your very own micro snowstorm:

f/4 1/125 second – This shot is one that make me think of snow in a whole new way, it is NOT solid – it’s mostly made of air!

f/4 1/125 second – The structure of these flakes started me – my snowflakes have 8 sides instead of 6, but that open space inside them is pretty accurate.

f/4 1/125 second – As I got closer I see the shapes become more defined – they are even flat like my paper.

f/4 1/100 second – A very slight shift to the side and the details of the single flakes on the right become clearer

f/4 1/125 second – I went back to the thicker patches of snow and tried to focus on just the shiny spots in the snow – occasionally I could catch a bit of detail. It’s all about depth of field here – this snowy area is about a quarter inch square and half as deep. The slice of focus is just about a millimeter thick.

f/8 1/125 second – I thought I would try a flash with a smaller aperture to try to catch a bit more depth. The planes of the flakes are pretty well defined.

f/4 1/30 second – Here I tried a longer exposure on an area with very few flakes. I see a classic paper shape pretty clearly on the one in the center.

f/2.8 1/80 second – Another longish exposure with the aperture wide open. I was hoping for more detail in the larger flake, the surprise was the one to the right. My classmates occasionally made paper snowflakes with this bulky shape and I made fun of them. I was wrong.

f/4 1/125 second – I continued to try and focus on the areas with specs of snow. Finally I got this shot – the one I was hoping for, a beautiful perfect translucent shape that reminds me of my power bill – not!

So, I guess my power bill really doesn’t compare to the complexity and beauty of something so delicate and perfect, but I think that my classmates and I got closer than we could have imagined.

Shutterbug Notes:

Shooting macro handheld is easier if you use some breathing techniques. It’s kind of like firing a rifle – take aim, exhale, fire the shutter. Exhaling eliminates some movement. It also helps to pull your elbows into your body to make yourself into a tripod. I prefer to shoot macro from a tripod because it’s easier to focus and play with aperture and shutter settings. the challenge is always to get the depth of field right. When snow is falling you have to move fairly quickly because the flakes you are shooting are covered pretty quickly.

Frozen Flora – the Season of the Frost Flower

Posted on November 24, 2013 by artsifrtsy

The hills of the Ozarks are a wet place. Rain water becomes spring water or ground water as it passes through our limestone karst topography. As it gets colder out the bluffs leach out this water in the form of icicles. On the ground below the bluffs the water trapped inside the stalks of tall plants expands. This ice takes on amazing forms – frost flowers appear at the bases of these plants. They appear on mornings where the temps are below freezing and disappear as the temperature rises.

It’s been unseasonably cold for a few days. I have been lighting a fire most evenings to warm up the old Stonehouse. This kind of sustained cold is more common in January or February. This morning when I took a look at the forecast I thought that even though it’s a couple of months early, the conditions were right. I packed up my macro lens and hit the highway. I had to slog through some semi frozen mud, but is it was worth it. Fields and fields of frosty blossoms.

I used a macro light on the super close-ups and a flash on a couple of shots. I wish I had taken the tripod, but the white light of an overcast day let me shoot fast enough to get away without it.

Click through and get a sense of the flower and the intricate shapes that make them up. I’m off to the kitchen to make some hot apple cider. Stay warm.

Frost Flower

Frozen Petals

Cyclones

Switchback

Waves

Curtains

Icy Blossom

Swirl

Cotton Candy

Funnel

Spindle

Curls

Sheers

Spun silk

Folds

Arches

Splash

Sheers

Point of Interest

Posted on February 27, 2013 by artsifrtsy

I don’t get my gear ready and think, “Wow, I hope I can find some leaves in the ice today!” I tend to come upon things that capture my interest. I have always been drawn to transparency and light. Anything with complimentary colors makes me take a second look. Texture intrigues me.

Sunday I thought I should head over to the mass of daffodils on my hillside when I encountered this – the ice from the top of the birdbath, cast aside and melting into the grass. It stopped me for almost an hour.

I forgot the daffodils, I know they will still be there on the next sunny day. You have to appreciate ice while it’s here. It melts is fast and then it is gone forever.

Frozen Dinner

Posted on January 31, 2013 by artsifrtsy

I’ve had a miserable week.

Monday morning started with a flat tire on the Jeep. From the time I texted work to let them know I would be late, I have felt like I have been chasing my schedule to catch up.

Tuesday the temps dropped 40 degrees and we got a couple of inches of much needed rain. I met a friend for dinner and we marveled that the storm could seem so intense. I arrived home to find a foot of water in my cellar. I turned off the breaker for the outlets down there and used a broom handle to unplug the dehumidifier that was now under water just in case.

Wednesday I scrambled to find a plumber to root out the cellar drain. It took me all day to find someone who would return my call. I met him at my house and he took one look at the cellar and said he could not work from inside the house with standing. I showed him the end of the drain in the woods some 200 feet from the house. It was brutally cold outside – the windchill was about 12 degrees, but soon my problems would be over…or so I thought. After 45 minutes the plumber called me outside. There would be no opening the drain, the drain was collapsed about 100 feet up the line.

As he put together a list and a schedule that would include a backhoe and about a mile of pipe I started to zone. When I check out like this, the best thing I can do is shoot. It was a cold grey soggy day, no color to be seen. I spotted my platter feeders. They were completely iced over. As I shot I consciously decided to not focus on the birdseed below the surface, I focused on the ice.

I was surprised by the depth…

The seeds below the surface seemed to be saturated in color…

The ice almost magnifies the seeds below…

How hungry would a cardinal need to be to try to get at these…

I’ve been filling a chipped mosaic birdbath with food, I like the color for photographs…

But now it takes on a more painterly look…

The mix of colors taking me to a warmer place.

The plumber came over and gave me a puzzled look and then dove into the details. There would be no draining the basement. I called a friend with a shop-vac and we hauled about 150 gallons up the stairs five gallons at a time. The water level dropped an inch. We gave up and called it a night.

Today I looked for a sump pump and finally found one late this afternoon. After work I put on my new rain boots and headed down into the cellar/wading pool. I got everything set up and discovered that all my garden hoses are frozen solid, just like the birdseed in those feeders.

Tomorrow at lunch I will buy an unfrozen hose and this week will finally come to a close. Once I empty the cellar I will take an ice pic to my bird feeders.

If this goes on another day perhaps I will open an underground ice skating rink.